44th.

Yes, the 44th President of the United States of America was inaugurated today.

Barack H. Obama.



I was watching the ceremony with wide eyes and a wider smile.

I'm ecstatic that I am reaching adulthood and discovering my political identity at a time when the USA has just inaugurated its first black president.



So... if we are to believe some people, Hell has frozen over.

Imagine this.
A man has been elected as President of the United States of America, who might not 50 years ago have been served in a local restaurant because of his colour.

He would've had to sit at the back of a bus, go to a separate school, use a different drinking fountain.

Some people would have had him killed for his courage.

But today he stood in front of the White House, listening to Aretha Franklin singing before he was sworn in as the Chief of a country which has so much influence.



I don't claim to know everything, or indeed anything, but I just wanted to share some thoughts on today.



I've been excited all day. So have a number of my fellow students.



I watched all afternoon - the speeches, the dedications. I was unable to tear my eyes away for a moment.

The streets were full of people. I could see written in their faces a world of joy and hope. I couldn't believe the crowds. Washington's streets were full to bursting.



He has been built up to icon status already - indeed it seems for every person proclaiming his links to terrorism (Because of his middle name, and his surname. Idiots.) there are many more proclaiming him to be even higher than a politician.



You might ask, as a British teenager, why I care about America's new President? It's not happening over here, after all.

I for one have never felt so magnetised to a politician. His charisma, his voice. His emotion.

He has a LOT to live up to, because people have built him upon such a pedestal, and he will find it hard. But I believe in change. It's a hoary cliche, I know. I am excited and I hope and I'm sure that he will live up to his own personality.



And another quote from his speech now, to close my rambling, hero-worshipping, pretty much pointless blog:

We will extend our hand if you will will unclench your fists.


That made me smile.


Goodnight, I have to now go and revise.



Charlotte.